has always gone out of his way to mention his hometown. >> as a country, we have been through this too many times, whether it's an elementary school in newtown or a shopping mall in oregon or a temple in wisconsin or a movie theater in aurora or a street corner in chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. >> the entire country grappling with what happened at sandy hook, the president has rhetorically erased the line between mass shootings like that and run of the mill shootings that ravage cities every day. gun violence is gun violence. hideya pendleton was a high school student. she played volleyball. she performed with her school's marching band at president obama's marching band last month. that was january 21st. on january 29th, she and friends caught cover because of rain.

it was only a mile from barack and michelle's home in chicago. a person with a gun approached the group and started shooting. hideya pendleton was not the shooter's target, however. on saturday in chicago, there will be a funeral service for hideya pendleton. the white house let it be known to be that first lady michelle obama will be at the funeral, which will make this even more of a national scale tragedy than it already is. "first look" is up next. good friday morning. right now on "first look," two fronts confine combine to create an epic winter storm with over 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts and as much as 2 feet of snow. a massive manhunt is under way in california. a well-trained former cop and veteran is on a mission and the police are pulling out all the stops to nail him. plus, senator feinstein says

lawmakers may set up special courts to monitor drone strikes. why apple is sitting on over $137 billion in cash. and an as tried is about to come fascinatingly close to the earth. millions along the northeast corridor are hunkering down for an epic winter storm. folks are stocking up and filling their tanks in anticipation of the massive nor'easter packing blizzard speed winds and crippling feet of snow. analyze are airlines have canceled thousands of flights as this storm travels across the country. dylan dryer is tracking the storm. >> it's going to be a bad storm with blizzard conditions across the northeast. blizzard conditions mean you need visibility under a quarter mile for three hours or more. and winds are going to be very gusty. it certainly looks like that is going to be a possibility. it's coming in pieces. we have your cold piece and your wet piece. this is going to move in from

the south. you can see heavier rain is falling across eastern virginia, move into eastern north carolina. that's the moisture we're working with that's going to help produce perhaps up to 2 feet of snow across portions of boston which has only ever seen four 2 foot or more snow storms. this is going to be a top five storm in the boston area. where temperatures are hovering just below freezing. in new york city, it's 32 degrees right now. and even though we will see some light snow in the new york city area at some point this morning, it will change over to rain and most of the accumulating snow in new york itself will occur overnight. you can see blizzard warnings post the from boston right back into hartford, connecticut, and across long island as well. eastern long island is an area we could end up with 12 to 18 inches of snow. boston is the jackpot. and it is certainly not out of the question to pick up 24 to 30 inches of snow. the only saving grace is that it's friday and this is occurring over the weekend. so not as many people on the roads. >> a little bit of good news.

we'll check back in with you later. turning to california where a massive manhunt has the los angeles area on virtual lockdown. lapd putting extra security at their headquarters because the suspect used to be one of their own. disfor dornor is wanted in multiple shootings across southern california. the 33-year-old says he's declaring war on the lapd after losing his job with the department in 2008. according to his lengthy and often ram bleel onlineman confess toe, he wants revenge until his name is cleared. he writes in part, "the violence of action will be high. i will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in lapd uniform, whether on or off-duty." he's accuse have had of fatally shooting a couple in irvine, firing on cops in chino, and killing officers in riverside. no sign of the man police described as arm and extremely dangerous.

nbc's stephanie stanton has more from los angeles. >> reporter: this burned-out truck belonging to murder suspect christopher dornor was found thursday afternoon two hours east of los angeles. dornor himself is nowhere to be found. >> he's considered armed and extremely dangerous. >> reporter: a former navy reservist and expert marksman, dornor posted a manifesto on facebook, detailing threats against two companies police officers he intended to kill. he claimed he was treated unfairly when fired from the l.a. police department in 2008 for making false statements. he filed a wrongful termination suit against the lapd but lost the case. >> the people with whom he had agreements were fair game, and so were their families, so were any other police officers on or off duty. >> reporter: the killing spree began sunday with a double homicide in orange county. the daughter of the lapd captain who represented dornor in his suit was killed along with her fiance. thursday morning police say he

shot and injured an officer. shortly after that, a.m. purchased two more at a traffic light, killing one. >> officer shot, multiple times. >> reporter: during the chaos police mistakenly shot and wounded two women delivering newspapers when officers thought they spotted dornor's truck. >> of course he knows what he's doing, we trained him. he was a member of the armed forces. it is extremely worrisome and scary. >> reporter: in his manifesto, dornor says he won't stop until his name is cleared. stephanie stanton, nbc news, los angeles. it was a day of heated questioning for the man president obama wants to head the dcia. john brennan was increased hard on the use of drones and enha e enhanced interrogation techniques. government memos show drones have been cleared for use against u.s. citizens suspected as working against terrorists. tracie potts is live in washington with the details. >> reporter: good morning.

brennan defended and strongly defended the use of drones but he distanced himself from how the bush administration questioned terror suspects. it looks like john brennan is gaining the support of several lawmakers after defending u.s. drone attacks on terror suspects, even americans. at least three have been killed so far. >> i think any american who did that should know well that they, in fact, are part of an enemy against us and that united states will do everything possible to destroy that enemy to save american lives. >> reporter: drones are used against imminent threats, he said, not as payback. but some are still concerned if it's legal and ask, what if the cia takes out the wrong person? >> we've got to see all, any and all, of those legal opinions, ones that the bipartisan group of senators asked for, before the vote. >> if you would remove that individual, please.

>> reporter: protests just as brennan was getting started. >> i also believe it is important for you to set the record straight -- >> reporter: brennan tells lawmakers he objected to questionable interrogation tactics. >> waterboarding is r reprehensible and something that sha not be done. >> reporter: democrats are confident brennan will be confirmed. >> he was honest, he was forthright, he answered the questions. >> i think you're the guy for the job and the only guy for the job. >> reporter: next week the panel meets to discuss classified material. and of course, that classified material now includes the memo justifying why this administration is using drones. don't panic but or planet is about a week away from a close encounter of an extraordinary kind. an asteroid with the not so sexy name of 2012da14, about half the length of a football field, is going to fly by the earth's surface on february 15th. nasa says will whiz by at a safe

distance of at least 17,000 miles beneath the altitude of orbiting satellites. british researchers are warning of the effects of a solar superstorm which they expect to happen soon. unlike frequent minor flareups, experts caution ones like this that come around every couple hundred of years could cause blackouts, disrupt gps, cripple mobile phones. stay tuned for that. and now here's your "first look" at this morning's "scrambled pal ticks." confirmation hearings for potential cia chief john brennan had lighter moments albeit one awkward lighter moment. >> i'm going to try to be brief because i've noticed you're on your fourth glass of water and i don't want to be accused of waterboarding you. >> all righty, then. florida's marco rubio might make a run for the white house but he insists he's not the second coming of the republican party. a potential 2016 campaign is getting a lot of the buzz but rubio tweeted, there is only one savior and it's not me #jesus.

republican pat mccrory says things like gender studies should get the ax. he added college funding should not be based on how many butts are in the seats but how many of those butts can get jobs. stephen colbert will reportedly be a surprise guest for a retreat at democratic lawmakers. the host of "colbert report" was invite vited by noep. energy career steven chu seen in bed by a solar been panel, released by "the onion" after what was said to be a long night of car rousing. mr. chu said he would neither confirm nor deny those charges on his facebook page. defense secretary leon panetta's rough almost last day on benghazi. plus david beckham's latest foreway into the nether world. details in the three minutes.

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welcome back. here's some other stories making news this morning. while being grilled by the senate armed services committee, had any onpanetta strongly defended the pentagon's response to the benghazi attack that left ambassador chris stevens and three other americans dead. panetta told lawmakers there just wasn't enough time to get u.s. forces or attack aircraft to the scene. today president obama will speak at a military farewell service for panetta. michelle obama plans to travel to chicago to attend tomorrow's funeral for 15-year-old hidea pendleton, an honor student and band major ret who participated in the inauguration festivities about a week before her death. hidea was the victim of random gun violence last week, fatally shot about a mile from the obamas' chicago-area home. no arrests have been made.

the big story of the day, that potentially historic blizzard bearing down on the northeast. if weather channel meteorologist jim cantore shows up in your town, that's got to be bad news. jim is live in boston for us this morning. what's the latest there? >> just to let you know how bad i think this one's going to be, i brought a yardstick. there's only been one time i've ever brought a yardstick to a snow storm with me. and that one turned out to be about 16, 17 inches. we could see much, much more than that with this. we're expecting 1 to 2 to possibly 3 feet of snow in so many areas through they are. governor duvall patrick came out yesterday and said, look, i'm going to be pretty adamant about this, i want people off the roads by noon. we are shutting down the "t," the mass transit system in boston, at 3:30. they just don't want people on the roads. especially given the fact that we are going to have such intense snowfall rates. i know as you look behind me in the beautiful boston common, there's no snow on the ground right now.

but that is going to change quickly. especially as we get to late this afternoon and on into the overnight hours. there's also a tremendous concern on the coastline where sandy has weakened so many dunes and beaches there. they are expecting structural damage in some areas here along the cape and the eastern shores of massachusetts. big, big storm coming up, a big one. back to you. >> all right, jim cantore in boston. wall street may be bracing for a blizzard but trading will be on. keep an eye on linked inn today. they shot up more than 10% in after-hours trading thanks to earnings nearly double the street's estimates. >> boeing edged higher after the bell on news federal regulators gave a green light to limited tests of the 787 dreamliner. officials are still investigating battery problems. see how apple fares a day after green light einhorn called it company out for the stockpile of cash. apple says it's considering his

proposal of preferred shares. we have a few other ideas. they could build a stack of dollar bills 9,000 miles high. they could foot the country's education bill for two years. they could give every apple employee a $1.7 million bonus. they could give every american a check for $437. back to the real world. hewlett-packard is following in apple's recent footsteps and posing new limits on temporary workers in china factories. bank of america got on the winter storm frenzy issues, winter storm, may bring 2 feet of snow, prepare now, make sure you have plen 30 of cash. bud light platinum is bringing sexy back to the beer aisle with singer justin timberlake. he'll star in ads and serve as a creative and musical curator. and if david beckham hadn't claimed he did all the stunts for his 90 h&m underwear commercial we wouldn't have to show to it you.

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turning back to one of our top political stories, the senate confirmation hearings of john brennan. joining me is national political reporter for politico james holman on the phone with us. thanks for being here. >> good morning, mara. >> these hearings have been described at one of the most contentious in a decade. what's going on behind these heated exchanged? >> everyone wants a pound of flesh. what's really remarkable is john brennan appears to have the support to be confirmed. but a lot of pent-up animosity from all the last decade or so in the post- 9/11 era all came out at yesterday's senate confirmation hearing. everyone has their own pet issues. and we saw kind of a big blow-up on the drone issue after nbc reported on some of the memos about legally targeting, you know, american citizens. so everyone kind of hit john

brennan as a pinata over their own issue, even though it was clear by the end of the day yesterday that he will eventually be confirmed. >> so we've heard so far that the senators questioned brennan extensively about the use of drones. what other topics can we expect him to be grilled on about these hearings? >> torture remains a sensitive issue. part of the walk down memory lane was asking brennan what he knew and when and why he didn't do more to stop harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding that were employed during the bush administration. there was also a lot of criticism over leaks that have happened. even though the presidential campaign is over. some of the harshest questions were about brennan's own conduct when it has come to media outlets reporting national security secrets, especially ones that were beneficial to the obama administration during the campaign season last year.

and then some various questions about benghazi, the attacks on libya last september that skilled the american ambassador. a lot of republicans feel there are still e-mails that haven't been released. and now here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america. we start in florida where a 70-year-old woman lost control of her suv and plowed through a restaurant window just as it was getting ready to open. a very agile bartender inside was able to leap out of the way and sustain only minor injuries. in michigan one snowplow definitely sweeps away the competition. a new toy for engineers that looks like atrailer but swings around wide enough to clear two lanes of traffic at once. it's half the price of normal plows. in new york, almost 3,000 dogs and their owners are primping for the prestigious westminster dog show. a rough workout in the special doggie gym gets these pups ready to compete. after a good run these pure breds need a little bit of a

break so they relax in style at their swanky rooftop dog park. >> a prime pooch may be training for the x-games. norman the sheepdog was playing with his own is where he developed a flair for riding bikes, scooters and skateboards. he performs with other talented pups and even stars on hallmark channel's "who let the dogs out." now for another look at the weather, here's nbc mfrt dylan dreyer with the forecast. >> as this storm develops we are going to iron out details as all the newest models come out. it does still look like we'll see wind and heavy snow especially in new england. we're on that rain-snow mix line in new york city through most of the day with most of the accumulating snow not occurring until later on tonight. along the coast of massachusetts, we are going to see some coastal flooding as winds could be as high as 60 to 65 miles per hour. and that is the wind that's going to toss around the snow and reduce visibility that could produce some blizzard-like conditions. we are going to see conditions

deteriorate rapidly throughout the day in the northeast by noontime, it should be snowing in the boston area, and then it only gets worse as we go into tonight. chicago and michigan, you've already seen the bulk of the snow. some areas in michigan picked up 10 inches out of part of this storm. but it does look like things will improve today, chicago 32 this afternoon. just ahead, a leaked memo tells rock stars, musicians and singers not to show too much skin. this one you've got to hear. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪ has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does!

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cat. how did cat beat robot? >> it was put to a national vote on the web and social media.

>> damn you, internet! and your insatiable love of cats! the internet and their cats! i'm serious, if the presidential election was held online, this would be our new commander in chief. >> i am a big fan of cats. if you're looking for a comedy you have one choice. jason bateman in "identity thief." the newest comedy from the director of "horrible bosses." expected to finish ahead of "side effects." and if you're dieing to bring back that loving feeling with goose and maverick, check out "top gun 3d" in select theaters. here's bill murray sporting some fantastic facial hair at a celebrity golf match. he swings, slices and eventually lies down in a sand trap. better luck next time. finally,